BLOODROCK / PASSAGE

Digitized from the original vinyl, released in 1972 on Capitol Records.
Format: Mp3
Bit Rate: 320 kbps
ALBUM INFO:
Produced By: Peter Granet & Bloodrock
Recorded At: Capitol Tower, Hollywood California
Remixed At: Wally Heider Recording Studios
Engineers:John Wilson, Cecil Jones
Cover Art: John Hoernle
TRACK LISTING:
Help Is On The Way
Scottsman
Juice
The Power
Lifeblood
Days And Nights
Lost Fame
Thank You Daniel Ellsberg
Fantasy
THE PLAYERS:
Warren Ham - Vocals, Flute, Sax, Harmonica
Nick Taylor - Guitar, Vocals
Ed Grundy - Bass, Vocals
Stevie Hill - Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Cobb III - Drums, Percussion
WEBSITE(S):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodrock
http://www.bloodrock.net/
http://www.steviehill.com/
http://www.furious.com/perfect/bloodrock.html
REVIEW:
By Yours Truly

This is one of those albums that I truly love, even to this day. Every bass note, every drum fill resonates in me when I play this album. If life was fair these boys would've scored a major impact with this release, but as we all know, life is far from fair.

I had this lp the day it was released, being a diehard Bloodrock fan already, but when I got it home and saw that Lee Pickens was gone I was distressed, but I put it on the turntable and by the time side two finished I was stunned. I didn't know who these guys were but they weren't the bloodrock I knew. They had made a 90° turn and produced a masterpiece that didn't sound a bit like everything they'd put out up to that point.

Gone were Lee Pickens distinctive guitar licks and James Rutledge's gritty voice. In their place was Warren Ham. I didn't know a thing about this cat, but I loved his voice and he played a mean sax and wrote some great tunes for this album.

For me, this was one of the top albums of 1972, if not for all time at this point. I played it constantly and turned as many people onto it as I possibly could. Tunes like Help Is On The Way, Lifeblood, Days and Nights & Fantasy were my favorites and to this day I can sing them acappela from memory...."Is it a matter of what you are wanting but you can't have, I cannot see where the answer is lying, you want so bad" Almost 37 years later this album still has an emotional effect on me that not many albums have been able to maintain.

I sometimes think they did themselves a disservice by keeping the Bloodrock name. If they'd have shed the media's preconceived notions of the Bloodrock name with a new band name they might have had a better chance of success with this release. at any rate this is the best Bloodrock album ever released and one of my very all time favorites.

PASSAGE ( from the lyric sheet)

From the ocean, an unchartered mass, we came.

Haggard and sleepless, wet to our souls,

needing rest and gentle land.

The ship's reflection glistened in the water,

as we stood starboard.

In despondent gesture,

Scouring the coastline

for an inlet of safe anchorage.

As night desended it uncovered an opening in the wall

of rock which had been hidden during the days' glare.

Steering into the night wind, we approached

the passage with it's beautiful reefs that surrounded the entrance,

and entered those jagged cliffs of stone that hung in sheets of

luminous array on each of our sides.

In a deep, mysterious vacuum were we suspended.

A misty haze of a reality, until at the end of the breezeway

there rest a cove. A peaceful cove where day is night &

night is day and all things are one.

Where we decided to lay bare our spirit and dwell within.

CONTACT:
READ THIS for more information on this album.